New Beginnings
by Dairire
Summary: It's Christmas the one year anniversary of the war, Draco reflects on past Christmas's and happier times for he is "unfortunately, involuntarily, forever alone." Or at least until one Hermione Granger makes her entrance..


_Just another little oneshot. Set one year after the final battle at Hogwarts. Harry, Ron, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy died in the war. Enjoy :]_

**Disclaimer: I only own the plot.**

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Christmas. When he was a child he had loved Christmas, his father would appear early in the morning and leave his presents by his bed then disappear, not to be seen again for the rest of the day. Draco always wondered where he went but he learnt from a young age not to ask questions. He was mainly left alone for the holiday, his mother would bestow formal greetings upon him as if he was a stranger then coolly turn and stride out the door without a backwards glance. Maybe that's what he like best about Christmas the fact that he was left alone. He could run around, shout, sing do anything. He used to think, unknowingly, his parents gave him the best present every year. When he was finished and out of breath he would lie down and debate his new years resolutions. And every year it would be different. One year it was to stop bullying the Gryffindors, yeah that lasted a whole five minutes. Another year it was to finally grow a backbone and break up with Pansy, that hadn't happened either, though it wasn't just at new years he made that particular resolution..

So this Christmas he was alone again, but this year was the first year in a very long time that he didn't want to be alone. But he was, unfortunately, involuntarily, forever, alone. It was one year to the day his family had been ripped from this world, the eve of the fall of the dark lord.

Draco shook his head, grabbed his broom and fled out the door attempting to leave the memories behind him. The ground was covered in a thin layer of the still falling snow, the sky alight with a million shining stars and the lone slytherin rushed towards the familiar pitch clueless of all of it. The only place he ever felt comfortable or even sane now was in the sky. When he was up there it was as if the world made sense for one blinding perfect moment.

As he swung his leg over his broom and kicked off from the frozen ground he could hear the shouts of party goers, already celebrating anniversary of a new era and new beginnings. Shouts, yells, screams and laughs all mingled together and floated towards the heavens, their tribute to the one third of the golden trio left on earth and to the two protectors floating unseen above their heads.

Draco sighed and released the golden snitch, pausing for a moment and observing the way it moved so gracefully and cheerfully, bouncing along its path with all the time in the world. Draco moved swiftly towards the glittering golden ball hidden amid the emerald grass, ruthlessly seeking it out as if his depended on it. He saw it move silently along the grass running towards the Gryffindor stand destroyed during the war. It, like the Potters' house, had been left as a tribute to those who had fought in the last battle, both light and dark, good and evil, wrong and right for all had fought for a purpose, to survive, to make the world a better place, for revenge. All had been brave.

He followed the snitch through the snow covered ruins where night reigned and there was a never ending blackness. Out of no where a light appeared through the darkness and there stood Hermione Granger, weak, broken and alone. Time stood still and the two former enemies gazed at each other, metallic irises into fiery brown. Hermione was thinner, with dark circles under her eyes and arms that still bore reminders of everything it had taken for her to be here today, alive. For once she looked fragile, breakable but standing there in her fairytale robes, covered in snowflakes, salty tears trailing their way down her face, she looked almost beautiful.

She opened her mouth, teeth gleaming in the moonlight and said in a smooth, controlled voice that never betrayed that her heart was beating for the first time in a year "I believe this is yours." She glided forward and pressed the snitch into his out stretched hand. "Thank you." And they both knew it was for more than just the snitch. They were statues, the golden ball entrapped between both their hands as they stood a year on, muggleborn and pureblood, as close as they had ever come, to shaking hands. A truce, a treaty, a peace deal, a promise, a cease fire they didn't know how long it would last but for tonight it was enough.

So one year to the day Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy lost the comfort and support of their friends and family, they found it again, in a very unexpected place and little did they know it would be enough. Enough comfort and support, and eventually love, to last them the rest of their lives.

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_A/N: I honestly had no idea where this story was going when I began it and didn't expect it to be so angsty, but that's the way it turned out._

_I had to give it a happy ending for Christmas though :]_

_**Merry Christmas Everyone!**  
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